The Engagement Arrangement (Boots and Bouquets #2) - Jaci Burton Page 0,19

almost missed the flash in the woods beyond the house, but he had his eyes open and his ears aware, because he’d always thought of himself as guardian of the family’s property.

He went into the house and grabbed his rifle. It was still light outside, which wouldn’t prevent someone from breaching the property line. He’d run off teenagers before who were looking for a place to hang out, and this was a nice secluded spot. A verbal warning generally took care of that. But you never knew who you might run into in the woods, and Finn wasn’t taking any chances.

He crept slowly around the water and toward the thick trees, ignoring the sweat pooling at the small of his back. As he entered the woods he stilled when he saw the bushes move, raising his rifle.

“I’ve got a gun trained on you and I’ll use it if you come at me. I’m giving you ten seconds to get the hell out of here.”

He waited, mentally counting to ten. He didn’t see anyone running. But someone or something started to come closer.

He lowered his rifle when he saw a dirty creature inching his way.

It was a dog. He crouched down to see that the poor little thing was filthy and looked like it hadn’t been fed in a while.

“Hey, buddy, you lookin’ for some food?” He held out his hand, not wanting to scare it into running off.

The dog came a little closer, whimpering. Finn wrinkled his nose. The dog stank.

“You need a bath. And a good meal. I’ll bet I can help with both of those. Wanna come to my house?”

The dog looked up at him with soulful brown eyes that hit Finn right in the stomach.

He stood, slowly. “Come on. Let’s go.”

He hoped the dog would trust him enough to go with him. He walked back toward the house, happy to see the dog following him, though he was keeping a respectable distance.

First, he needed food, so as soon as they got to the house Finn went inside. The dog didn’t come in, but he waited on the porch while Finn filled a bowl with water and took that outside. The dog lapped greedily. While the dog drank his water, Finn went back into the house and looked through his cabinets and fridge. He didn’t have any dog food, but he did have some eggs and bacon. He quickly scrambled up a few eggs and fried the bacon, threw them on the plate, waited for them to cool down some, which only took a minute, then hoped the dog would still be there when he walked out onto the porch.

The dog was still sitting there. The water bowl was empty, trails of muddy water dripping down his chin.

“Here you go, buddy. Try this out.”

He laid the plate down and the dog gobbled up the food like he hadn’t eaten in days. Judging by the ribs Finn could see, it had probably been longer than that.

Finn crouched down after the dog had licked the plate clean. “Who threw you out like you were nothing but garbage, huh? What asshole would do that?”

He reached out his hand and let the dog sniff him. He wagged his tail and licked Finn’s fingers.

“You like that my fingers smell like bacon, don’t you? Wanna come inside and see about having a bath?”

He got up, took the plate with him and looked at the dog. “Come on, buddy, let’s go inside.”

He crossed the threshold, figuring the dog would either follow or not but Finn wasn’t going to force it.

The pup was tentative, but he came in, making Finn’s heart do a little leap. He didn’t know why. Was he actually thinking about keeping this dog?

Hell yes, he was. No one had taken care of this guy, which meant he was now Finn’s responsibility.

The dog followed Finn all the way into the bathroom and studied him with his head cocked to the side while Finn turned the water on.

Okay, he seemed interested in the water. That was a good thing.

“Wanna get in there? Do ya?”

When Finn built the house he didn’t put in a tub, figuring he never took baths and wouldn’t need one. So he just had a walk-in shower. Bathing the dog would have been easier with a—

The dog walked right into the shower and stood under the water as if he knew he stunk like the worst thing Finn had ever smelled.

“Okay, then. Let’s shower.” Finn knew the only way to get